Course Descriptions

AABC Online Courses

The Certification Program has four required courses offered in two course cycles.

The first cycle of courses includes Introduction to Bariatric Science and Food, Nutrition and Culture.

The second cycle of courses includes Health Psychology: Focus on Obesity and Psychosocial Implications: Pre-Surgery Assessment and Treatment of Bariatric Surgery Patients.

All courseware is online and self-paced, fellows are advised to study the courses they are registered for sequentially.

* The course cycles are offered sequentially and fellows requesting out-of-sequence registration may be granted permission by the academic committee.

The tuition cost for each cycle (two courses) is $450 (including $50 registration fee) which may be paid by check, credit card or PayPal account. If you wish to pay by credit card or PayPal account, you will be sent a PayPal “Money Request” for the total amount.

The General Structure of Each Course

Each course contains 12- self-paced online classes. These are graduate-level courses. There is a reading assignment, video presentation and required short-essay response to the reading and video curricula for each class. All educational material for each course is in the textbooks and on our learning platform called DigitalChalk. To successfully complete each class/course participants are expected to deliver thoughtful and concise short-essay responses based not only on the reading and video curricula but also reflect the professional experiences of their disciplines. An AABC fellow/mentor will audit and assess your responses to each class and offer commentary. 36 CE credit hours

To find out more about becoming part of the AABC Bariatric Science Certificate Program, please see How To Become Certified.

For more information and to receive email notices, please complete the onlineAABC Request Form.

Cycle One Courses:

Introduction to Bariatric Science

Learning Objectives

Recognizing nature via nurture causations of obesities

Understanding the psychophysiological domains of obesities

Review multi-modality treatments for overweight and obese patients

Identifying health professional obesity stigmatization and bias

Course Description:

Bariatric Science is an evidence-based science that focuses on the research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of obesity and its related biopsychosocial disorders. This course will explore the 20th century emergence of the obesity pandemic. Students will become familiar with the multi-factorial pathogenesis of obesity: genetic factors, the environment, psychosocial influences as well as current research that offers a multi-modality approach to management, treatment and prevention.

Food, Nutrition and Culture: A World View

Learning Objectives

Develop intercultural communication and counseling skills

Analyze health beliefs and cultural values of different ethnic religious and regional groups

Examine non-traditional healing practices of many cultures

Course Description:

This course provides students with a world view of health, culture, food, and nutrition habits of the most common ethnic and racial groups living in the United States. The course is designed to help health and education professionals understand, communicate, counsel, and develop effective interventions with members of different ethnic and religious groups in a culturally competent manner.

Cycle Two Courses:

Health Psychology: Focus on Obesity

Learning Objectives

Understanding the synthesis of biological mechanisms, psychological processes and social influences of obesities

Recognition of the psychosocial consequences of obesities

Comprehend the physiology and psychology of stress and positive coping strategies

Using health psychology principles to prevent and treat obesities.

Identify psychosocial obstacles in the care and treatment of obesities

Course Description:

This course introduces, investigates and examines the biological, psychological and social origins of many contemporary diseases and disorders such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer with a special focus on obesity, the bariatric sciences and the mind/body connection. Students will examine and evaluate their own lifestyles and health behaviors, thus becoming more sensitive to human behaviors and conditions that impede behavioral change.

Recognition of best practices for nutritional care post-bariatric surgery

Course Description:

This course offers a comprehensive overview of bariatric surgery procedures,, candidate selection, assessment and evaluation as well as post-surgical follow-up and aftercare The biopsychosocial instruments that are used to assess and evaluate candidates for bariatric surgery, that satisfy the requisites of third party payers, are integral to this course of study. Focus on the psychological and social processes that influence the development of obesity as well as the implicit psychosocial consequences of obesity throughout the lifespan.

FACULTY

AABC interdisciplinary instructors for this program are experienced clinicians in the disciplines of Social Work, Health Psychology and Psychology.

Brandon Davis, Ph.D., CBC, is a clinical psychologist and certified bariatric counselor that specializes in the treatment of obesities. He is a member of a bariatric interdisciplinary review committee that review bariatric surgery candidate eligibility. Dr. Davis has conducted more than 1500 pre-bariatric surgery candidacy assessments, required by insurance providers.

Joseph Indelicato, LCSW, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and social worker that has been practicing more than 10 years. He is also a professor of psychology at Touro College/University System and Director of Research for the American Association of Bariatric Counselors. He has numerous science publications. He and research collaborators are credited with discovering a new bariatric science metric termed “Metabolic Factor”.

Stephen Phillips, MA. CBC, is a certified bariatric counselor and heath psychology practitioner. For the past 20 years he has specialized in the treatment of obesity and eating disorders. He co-authored the first accredited advanced graduate bariatric science certificate program in the US. For the past six years he has been teaching bariatric science courses in college graduate programs and for the American Association of Bariatric Counselors.